


The Arcane Warrior

by Fallen_Empress



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Action/Adventure, Family Dynamics, Family Secrets, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-13
Updated: 2014-03-13
Packaged: 2018-01-15 13:46:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1307002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallen_Empress/pseuds/Fallen_Empress





	The Arcane Warrior

Nadia sat in the middle of a lush, green clearing. It had been hours since she left home, the midday sun shining bright overhead. She always managed to lose herself in the ambiance of the forest. The soft rustling of the trees in the wind soothed her as she immersed herself in a sketch of a small, blue bird feeding from a vibrant, purple orchid.

Drawing was a gift she had inherited from her mother. She remembered watching for hours as her mother drew pictures of anything she found interesting, from a strangely growing tree to her father sleeping in a chair. Nadia would try her best to copy her mother’s work and asked endless questions about how it was done. Nadia recalled her mother laughing as she once tried to draw a rabbit by hopping around the yard behind it. Eventually she taught Nadia everything she could about drawing, including how to draw moving subjects. She appreciated her mother for that, allowing her to catalogue a great deal of the flora and fauna that resided near their home. Nadia sat back and smiled as she finished and surveyed her work. As good as she was, she still had a ways to go before she reached her mother’s talent.

Nadia sprawled back in the grass and mused. She envied her mother’s ability to draw from description or memory. In fact, her mother had been losing herself in memories more often. She spent more time each day scribbling in a private sketchbook she kept tucked away in a trunk. Nadia always wondered what secrets her mother kept hidden in there and why. Perhaps it explained why they lived so secluded from everyone else. She would travel into the city with her parents sometimes, but they rarely let her go far. Her mother always seemed on edge whenever they spoke with anyone, especially merchants from the southern coast. They only stayed long enough to make trades or buy necessities before herding Nadia back onto their cart and heading home again. Nadia always wished that she could meet people and make friends, or even spend time looking at the other wares in the markets.

Nadia sighed. This was too much to think about. She shut her eyes and basked in the sunlight. Her dark, silky waves fanned out above her as the sun warmed her skin. She relaxed in the grass, feeling the blades brush lightly against her. She was beginning to fall asleep when, suddenly, she heard a twig snap. She sprang up and grabbed the broadsword her father had given her. From the bushes emerged an elf covered from head to toe in green. She was muttering to herself about ‘twine or breadcrumbs’ before she noticed Nadia.

* * *

 

Merrill had gotten herself lost. Again. Oh, if only she’d saved Varric’s ball of twine or some breadcrumbs or… _something_! She could barely remember how she'd gotten so far into the forest anyways. There had been the Tevinter merchants she had hidden from, then the birds she had followed to that stream, oh, and the trail of wildflowers...

She was so lost in thought that she nearly missed the small figure pointing a sword right at her chest.

“Oh,” she exclaimed. “Sorry! Did I startle you? I’m just lost. Again. I don’t really know how I ended up here, but do you happen to know the way out?”

The girl continued to stand there scowling. Merrill studied her face for the first time since they’d crossed paths. There was something strangely familiar about her. She almost looked like…

“Hawke!”

* * *

Nadia studied the elf in front of her. The woman was as thin as a twig with tattoos Nadia recognized as Dalish. Her hair was tied in unkempt little ponytails and her clothes were covered in dirt. Nadia continued to scrutinize the elf until she suddenly yelled “Hawk!” Nadia looked up in the sky, but saw nothing.

_I can’t believe I fell for such a stupid trick!_

Nadia looked back at the woman expecting an attack. Instead, the elf looked positively giddy.

“Oh, I know you, _I know you_!” the elf squealed. Nadia took a step back. “No, wait! Don’t you remember me? Oh, of course you wouldn’t you were so small but I remember you! You’ve grown into such a pretty girl! You look just like your mother, well except for that scowl, that’s from your father…”

_Maker, this woman is_ crazy.

“Who are you,” Nadia demanded. The woman started at her tone.

“Of course, I should have told you that sooner. My name is Merrill. I knew your parents!”

Ha. She wasn’t falling for another one of those tricks. “Prove it,” she barked.

The elf rummaged in a small pouch at her waist until she produced a folded piece of paper.

“Your mother gave me this years ago.”

Nadia lowered her sword enough to snatch the paper away. She unfolded it and saw it was a picture.

“This is one of mother’s drawings,” she whispered. Sure enough, the elven woman was in it along with her father and a bunch of other people. They seemed to be sitting at a table in some sort of tavern. “What…what is this? Where is this? Who are these people?” There were a myriad of questions buzzing around Nadia’s head.

“You…don’t know anything?” the elf asked. “Oh dear, perhaps I’ve said too much.” She turned to leave.

“Wait,” Nadia yelled. Her mother’s past was standing right in front of her and she needed to know more. “Merrill, was it? We don’t live far from here. I can take you to her. My mother, I mean. I bet she’d be glad to see you. We don’t get many visitors.” Merrill seemed to perk up at that idea.

“Really? It’s been so long, and I have missed her…” Nadia sheathed her sword and picked up her books.

“Okay, then. Follow me.”

 


End file.
